Being An Asshole Is Not a “Cultural Thing”

I work in the service industry. I make people lattes, I serve them breakfast, I help them get set up for appointments – a plethora of things. And I love it. I love helping people.

Or I love helping most people. There are always going to be those weirdo regulars who come in – they aren’t creepy so much as they are exhausting. There’s always the high maintenance business person who comes in asking for a macchiato and is angry when it’s not starbucks bullshit version of a latte with 3 different sweeteners. Then there are the people who are just fuckin’ assholes.

These are the people that come in, and get upset that you don’t have that apple-mango-cranberry bliss juice that they suggested upon their last visit. Or that you didn’t know they now take milk with their americano instead of cream. Or the Ethiopian espresso was a little more bitter than the Guatemalan (even though you fucking told them before you made it).

More often than not these difficult customers aren’t from Canada (where I reside). I get a lot of Irish, French, and German’s (although this is not limited to or exclusive to people from these places) that surpass their blunt demeanours into pure asshole fuckery. And you know what people say? “Oh it’s just part of their culture, they’re not as polite as we are here.”

Listen up. I don’t care if someone says their “please and thank-you”s unless they are under the age of 10. I don’t give two shits if you want to call a latte a macchiato – fine, go for it. I’m giving you a fucking latte. But if you are patronizing, blatantly rude to me while providing a service that you demand, or are going to get upset when you have to wait in line like the rest of the customers to get their order (because you are a human and there isn’t a little Sims sign waving above your head telling me about your origins (and even if there were I wouldn’t care)) then you’re a fucking dick.

If a frenchman isn’t as smiley and openly friendly as I am, I’m not going to take it personally. If a German is a little more forward than I’m used to I’m not going to take it personally. Even if someone is being a straight up fucking jerk I’m not going to take it personally – I’m also not going to pass that off as a “Cultural Thing”. Because it’s not. People know their manners all over the world. They know the difference between a compliment and an insult. And I’m sick of all these assholes with a Get Out of Jail Free card because of where they were born or raised thinking they have the freedom to terrorize me and my coworkers about something we can’t help them with or change.

There is no fucking pass for being a jerk. I’m not going to cut you a break for belittling me because you aren’t from here. And I most certainly am not going to make an entire culture take responsibility for your decision to be a fucking asshole by saying “Oh, It’s just a cultural thing.”